Tuesday, November 2

Upcycled T-shirt Dress

Hi everyone! This is Cheri from I Am Momma - Hear Me Roar. I love being able to take old things and give them new life - especially with clothing. Today I'm going to show you how to take some old t-shirts and turn them into something fun. Let me introduce the Upcycled T-shirt Dress.

Now right off the bat you might be thinking, "That's nice but I don't have any cute t-shirts or knits." Don't you fret or frown. I've got an extra little step for you.

After rounding up my t-shirts, I felt like some of them needed something extra. I found some foam stamps. You could even make your own if you wanted to. I painted my fabric paint onto the stamp and pressed it onto the fabric. I did this until it looked like a funky knit fabric. (Don't worry about each stamp being perfect. They won't be, but it'll still be really cute. It'll look more vintage.)

I did another one using a lip-shaped stamp.

To add a little variety, I took another fabric and drew "XOXO"s all over it with my fabric markers.

For the top of the dress you can cut off any shirt. Maybe you can find a shirt that has a stain on the bottom half that you would have gotten rid of. Now there's a bit of sewing involved here, but it's still a pretty simple project.

Next I aligned all my different strips and sewed them together. I wanted the seams to be on the outside, to give it that messy patchy look. You need two of these - one for the back and one for the front.

I trimmed the edges carefully. I wanted the dress to be a-line and I made sure the top of the skirt was about a 1/2 inch wider then the bottom of the shirt, so that after I sewed the from and back of the skirt together (using 1/4 inch seams) they would be the same width.

I sewed the front and back together, but I didn't want those seams on the outside. (Tip: I like to start at the bottom of the skirt to make sure the two parts line up.) I also made sure to use the bottom of a t-shirt for the last layer so I wouldn't have to do my own hem. Clever and lazy, yes. Lastly, I sewed the skirt to the top.

It was a fun project and I was happy to give my dull, old knits some extra life.

Even if you don't sew, you could use the same concepts to spice up a plain tee or hat. The Tulip fabric paint and markers are sure to make anything a whole lot more fun.

Hi Cheri--I found this tutorial SO INSPIRING! I made two of these dresses yesterday--and they came out so beautiful. I used fun, funky tees that I had on hand. I blogged about it today and posted a link to your tutorial.

Cheri! I finally tried this tutorial for myself! I posted the final pieces on my blog with a link to your post! Thanks for your talent and sharing it with the world! ~A.B.http://ladybaillio.blogspot.com/2011/02/patchwork-upcycled-t-shirt-dress.html

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